ALAMEDA — She was a 15-year-old girl who dreamed of becoming a journalist and traveling the world, telling people about what was happening in faraway places.

But what Ichinkhorloo Bayarsaikhan really wanted was

to achieve enough success to take care of her parents, especially as she watched them struggle to create a new life in the United States after they left their native Mongolia.

Her dreams ended Halloween night, when someone armed with a handgun shot and killed the teenager as she gathered with friends at an Alameda park. “She always had a smile on her face,” said her mother, Uranchimeg Khishigdorj. “Happiness surrounded her. She loved life.”

A junior at Alameda High School, Bayarsaikhan was shot once in the back in what police said was an attempted robbery.

No one has been arrested in the slaying. But investigators said Sunday they are following leads and appealed to anyone with information to come forward. Bayarsaikhan arrived here with her family just over three years ago.

She quickly learned English and was maintaining a 3.3 grade-point average when she was killed, according to Alameda Unified School District officials.

Along with taking a heavy class load — she was studying choir, chemistry and pre-calculus — Bayarsaikhan liked to watch Rachel Ray, the television chef, her family said.

“Her goal was to take care of us,” Khishigdorj said through a translator. “She would say, ‘I will help you. I will take care of you for the rest of your life.'”

The student’s death has stunned the Bay Area’s Mongolian community, which is believed to number about 5,000.

“Is this going to be the message of America?” said Dorj Luvsanjambaa, a leader in the Mongolian community. “Should we stop kids going out on Halloween, and the Fourth of July, too? People now realize how dangerous it is.”

According to Alameda police, Bayarsaikhan was with about 10 other teenagers at Washington Park when the shooter and about five other boys approached them and demanded their money. The shooter fired about six shots over the heads of Bayarsaikhan and the others, causing them to duck and scatter, police said. Witnesses described the shooter and the other boys as Asian males wearing dark clothing. Police have released a sketch of one suspect. Investigators think the assailants may have run from Washington Park after the shooting and climbed aboard an AC Transit bus that was traveling on Webster Street toward Oakland.

Bayarsaikhan’s fellow students and teachers at Alameda High School are working to create a fund in her memory. They expect to have the account set up within the next few days. On Saturday night, the girl’s family held a vigil at the Central Avenue park. Khishigdorj said the family came to the United States so they could have a better life.

“Our first impression of America was that it was a safe haven for everybody,” she said.

Khishigdorj added that she hopes no one will have “to go through what I feel now.